


Seven Sisters

by mpatientdreamr



Category: Practical Magic (1998)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-02 17:32:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2820449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mpatientdreamr/pseuds/mpatientdreamr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Family, always linked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seven Sisters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gray Shadows (the_afterlight)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_afterlight/gifts).



> Many thanks to my beta.

1.) Maria

Maria followed her aching heart out to the sea.

Leah was curled up on the rocks watching the waves roll in, weeping.

“What did you do, Grandmother?” she asked on a gasp, looking up at Maria. The desolation in her eyes was damning. “What did you do to this family?”

Maria knelt beside her, resisting the urge to reach for her. Handling rejection was something she'd never handled well. “I don't know, love. Perhaps it can be undone.”

Leah looked at her, incredulous. She gave a harsh little laugh. “Undone. You can't bring the dead back to life, Grandmother. Mama and Papa and my William. They're gone. That cannot be undone.”

Maria finally gave in to the urge and ran her fingers through Leah's tangled red hair. She was too old and jaded for this. “Maybe not for my generation or your mother's or even for yours. But Sarah and Hannah...”

Leah, impossibly, went paler. “Grandmother.”

“Leah, if we bend our minds to it, we can protect this family from further heartbreak,” Maria insisted. 

“You don't even know what you did,” Leah said, her indignation falling away as tears took over again. “How are we supposed to fix it?”

“We have to try,” Maria said and sighed as Leah finally collapsed into her lap, sobbing. She couldn't watch another child give in to the pain and walk into the ocean. “Stay and we'll try together. Stay, my darling.”

2.)Regina

Regina jerked around at the first tick, dropping the bowl in the sink. Matthew came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said with an unsteady laugh. She turned in his arms and wrapped hers around his neck. “Hey, you. How about we go to the beach with the girls today?”

He raised an eyebrow but started to sway her from side to side. “Sure, babe. I'll get the girls ready while you work your magic?”

She smiled, a true smile, and pushed him away from her. “It's cooking. Just mixing ingredients.”

“Magic,” he said, waggling his fingers at her before turning and chasing the girls, laughing, up to their room. 

The tick of the death watch beetle caused her to flinch and close her eyes. “Please. Not today.”

3.)Jet

Jet woke with a start, sitting straight up in bed as her heart pounded. “Oh, Regina, what have you done?” She swung out of bed and hurried to the door, almost colliding with Fran. “Regina-”

“I know,” Fran said, reaching out to grasp her shoulders. “The girls.”

“Yes. They'll need us,” Jet said, trying to fight down tears. She looked up at her sister and let a few slip. “Why does this always happen, Franny? Why does this have to be our legacy?”

“I don't know,” Fran said, clearly lying. She'd firmly believed in The Curse since Ethan had been stung by a bee on their wedding day and collapsed at the altar. “But we can't let that stop us from making a happy home for the girls.”

Jet let her sister pull her in for a hug but couldn't shake the vice like feeling that always occurred when another Owens woman was lost. “We'll make them happy,” she whispered, vowing. “That's all that matters, now.”

4.)Fran

Fran followed the sound of quiet weeping to the widow's walk. Gilly sat there, face pressed into her knees. “Oh, my little witch. Why are you sad?”

“I'm not even good at magic and everyone still hates me,” she said miserably, tears tumbling free. “I don't understand why. Why can't I do magic like Sally? And why don't people like me?”

“Darling, every witch has their strong suits, just like any other person,” Fran said, settling beside the girl. “You'll get better at magic and you'll find your gift. As for other people, well, you put entirely too much stock in what they think. They can't understand women from this family, so that frightens them. We're special, Gilly.”

“I don't want to be special,” Gilly said on a sob. “I want friends.”

“My dear, that's why you have Sally,” Fran said, pulling Gilly to her and rocking. “Sisters are better than just friends. And no one could ever understand you the way she does.”

Gilly's tears tapered off but she stayed leaning against Fran. “I'll always have Sally.”

“As long as you take care of each other, yes,” Fran said, kissing the crown of her head. “You'll never be alone.”

Gilly nodded against her shoulder but didn't seem to be in any hurry to return to the house, so Fran looked up and studied the stars. 

5.)Sally

Sally grinned up at the moon as the baby beneath her ribs stirred. Michael was still sound asleep and the town was quiet. “Hush, baby. We're just greeting the midsummer moon.”

This was easier at the Aunts' house, which was much more secluded than Sally's house in town. But she lit a tiny fire and swayed as the moon rose, fat and full. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, slowly spinning around the fire. If she listened, she could hear the Aunts cackling and Gilly humming as she spun in circles and, distantly, her mother singing some song that only she knew.

“This is your family, baby,” she whispered, smiling even as tears slipped down her cheeks. 

She wouldn't miss the Midsummer moon for anything, but it was a bittersweet thing. 

She heard the tinkle of a little girl's laughter and stopped spinning, eyes opening. She caught a flash of red hair and a happy smile before she faded into the fire.

“Alright, baby girl. I hear you,” Sally murmured, closing her eyes and smiling. She tipped her head back and let her hair tumble to her hips as she swayed to the rhythm of her heart.

6.)Gilly

Gilly laughed as she watched the girls twirl around the yard, flowers woven into their hair. Sally was sprawled in a chair, watching the chaos with an indulgent smile, hand moving aimlessly over her belly.

“Is she restless?” Gilly asked, reaching out to rub her sister's baby bump. She'd missed both of Sal's previous pregnancies but it was a state that suited her.

“Hmm,” Sally said, nodding. “Although I'm not sure about the 'she' part.”

Gilly's eyes snapped to her face. “But we always have girls.”

“We're not cursed, anymore,” Sally reminded her gently. “The curse was specifically for men who loved Owens' women.”

“You think that's why we've always had daughters,” Gilly said, skeptical.

Sally smiled. “Maybe. Or maybe we've always just stopped at two and they're meant to be girls. Maybe we're over thinking this.”

“You think it's a boy,” Gilly murmured, leaning in so no one else could hear them.

Sally closed her eyes. “A little brunette boy with one blue eye and one green eye and a sweet soul.”

“That's awful specific,” Gilly said, raising an eyebrow. 

Sally grinned at her. “Just wait. You'll know soon enough.”

Gilly flushed. She thought she'd kept her interest in the new bartender in town to herself. Sally reached for her hand and Gilly laced their fingers together, tucking her bare feet under her. 

“I'm scared,” she whispered. 

“Don't be,” Sally said, squeezing her hand. “We're here. Nothing's going to happen to you this time.”

Gilly clung to her sister's hand and turned to watch her nieces run wild.

7.)Kylie  
She swirled the flowers gently in the bowl until they lifted, then stayed aloft under their own power. Maria had cursed them, true, but Kylie felt a pull to her ancestor that could only be explained by blood and magic. She was certain that Maria had a right to know that the curse would lift, that happily ever after was achievable. 

She closed her eyes and let the magic take hole, whispering the spell to carry her message through time, to blood of her blood.

She opened her eyes and smiled as a woman with long salt and pepper hair gave a wild grin at the petals falling around her. Then she looked at her and the grin grew bigger, warmer.

“It'll work out,” Kylie said quietly, feeling it echo through time. Maria nodded and reached for her. Kylie felt a brush of the impossible along her cheek before everything faded and she was standing on her terrace with an empty bowl.

Her bedroom door slammed open and Kylie spun around as Antonia stomped in.

“What are you doing?” Tonia snapped, grabbing hold of her arm and dragging her out the door and down the stairs. “You're the bride; you can't be late to your own wedding.”

“It's fine,” Kylie said, although she didn't resist her sister. “I'm not late. And Curtis would wait for me, anyway.”

Antonia rolled her eyes. “Well, my stomach won't. I'm starving and Mom's about to have a coronary, so let's just get this done so we can have cake.”

“It's fine,” Kylie said again, more quietly this time as she let Gary save her from Antonia's wrath. “It all worked out.”

The wind whipped her hair as she stepped out into the sunlight and from the corner of her eye, she saw a woman with salt and pepper hair shoo her down the aisle. Everything was going to be fine. The curse was lifted.


End file.
